Beady Bonanza

Definitely back on track with this blogging lark again.  To prove it, I have some finished pieces to show:

Firstly, this Alhambra Tiles bracelet, made from a tutorial by Callie Mitchell, The Peregrine Beader.

For this, I used some lovely Toho size 11 seeds with a hybrid Picasso finish, delicas, size 15 seeds, Swarovski chatons & 4mm bicones and Czech fire polished 4mm beads, also with a hybrid Picasso finish.  It was also my first attempt at cubic right angle weave – definitely a stitch I will do again.

Next up, is this Ruby Pools bracelet, which was my own design (A.K.A. “making it up as you go along”).

I used June’s Acorn Club beads from Oak Tree Crafts for this.  There are size 8, 11 & 15 seeds and 4 & mm Czech fire polished in it, stitched in a combination of right angle weave and peyote.  I love when these wee kits come through my door.

Next up, one I actually completed at the Bead Retreat; a Granada brooch, from Sabine Lippert’s Beaded Fantasies book.

For this one I used Swarovski pearls (in my favourite powdered almond colour), bicones and a rivoli, along with some size 15s.  I am so happy with the colourway of this one – it has a lovely vintagey feel to it.

Finally, a Monochrome Spiral bangle.  One of the very first bits of beading I did was to make one of the these, and I had always intended to go back and do another one, but never quite got around to it (until now):

For this one I used seed beads in size 6, 8, 11 (3 different colours) and 15 (2 different colours).  The only downside to this bangle has been that one of the colours of 15s is frosted and they are very brittle.  Not great when combined with a very stiff bangle, the outcome being that a few of them have snapped.  Hopefully it won’t get any worse, at the moment you can’t really see where they have gone, but definitely something to bear in mind if you are making one of these, especially if it’s for someone else.

Have lots more to share with you all, so will be back soon with another update.

Lisa xoxo

 

Oops…

…time ran away with me and the next thing I know, my couple of days has turned into a couple of months.  I am going to try to be a better blogger though!

The unfinished bead embroidery and bracelet I showed the last time I posted is still no further forward, but I do have some nice beady creations, just sitting waiting to be photographed.  As soon as I’ve done this, I’ll blog them.

Remember my desire to start dressmaking?  Well I now have a date in the diary with the lovely Lesley to make a duct tape dress form.  It’s not for a few weeks yet, so that gives me plenty of time to sort out all my treasured belongings crap, which has migrated to the spare room.

Talking of dressmaking, I have acquired some luscious fabric since my last post:

I am planning to make a weekend bag with the oilcloth, a winter skirt with the grey cord, a bag and/or kitchen stuff with the ducks and dots, and something fabulously amazing with the brocade.

I have no idea how we managed to get halfway through the year.  I really wanted to have a go at millinery and corsetry this year, but time always seems to be running away with me.  I suppose that is the price I pay for having to work full time, trying to get fit, cooking in order that we eat few processed foods, and trying to squeeze in some craft time whenever I can.  Doesn’t help matters that I’m a bit of a procrastinator.

On the subject of getting fit, I have started roller derby training with Fierce Valley Roller Girls.  I used to be pretty handy on skates in my younger, Coasters days, but changed days now!  To be honest, I was a bit disheartened the first week of training when I couldn’t do all the things I could in my mid teens (well over 25 years ago).  Of course, once I got my realistic head on, I remembered I couldn’t do all these things when I started, the skills came with many, many hours of practice.  I am just so happy I’m getting to skate again.

I’ve also rejoined the gym and been swimming a fair bit.  I’m also keeping up with my yoga and burlesque classes (hence the no time I mentioned earlier).

Will be back in the next few days (I promise this time) with some beady beauties.

¡Hola!

It’s been longer than I hoped since my last post, but I do have an excuse.  Last weekend the hubster and I hit the sunny climes of Spain for a lovely long weekend, which just happened to coincide with my birthday.  It was really nice and relaxing (so relaxing in fact, that I have barely made a thing since I returned) – so much better than late February in Scotland!  On my birthday we went to a gorgeous restaurant called Oliva – the food was fantastic

I got some lovely goodies with my birthday money too:

A handmade leather bag from a wonderful shop called Manos – you can see the 2 leather work when you visit the shop.  The choker is also handmade and was from a boutique called (I think) Luisa Haan:

We’ve signed up for the next Tryst Craft Fair at the Dobbie Hall in Larbert, so I will definitely need to shake off my nonchalance and get making stuff.  I’ve also been aware that I haven’t done any beading for months; to be honest, I had sickened myself of it a bit, so the break has done me good.  I think it’s time to start again though.  I also want to get some polymer clay out and have a play with that…oh and my sewing stuff!!  I really love my job, but sometimes I wish I could take a year off and just spend all my time making things…well that will never happen, so I need to structure what time I do have a bit better, spend less time procrastinating (a.k.a. faffing) and more time making!

One thing I did do was make dinner on Saturday – spent over 10 hours cooking but it was well worth it.  I made lobster ravioli with lobster sauce, venison with cha-cha-cha sauce (my made up on the spot name for cherry, chilla and chocolate) on butternut squash puree, with fine beans and pancetta.  I really pleased with the sweet (mainly because I normally hate doing sweets).  I did this Pomegranate Meringue Rose Tart from Saveur, but made individual tarts, served with homemade pistachio ice cream, crystalised rose petals and pomegranate sauce.  The tarts looked exactly like the one in the picture, but I’m quite gutted I forgot to take photos – was too busy to think about it really!

Until next time…

Fabulous Fabrics

Greetings, oodlers.  Hope this week has been good to you so far; mine has been pretty good and to top it off, I’m away for a long weekend on Friday.

I took a trip, with my good friend, Lesley, through to Mandors on Sunday.  Mandors is a fantastic fabric shop in Glasgow -  those of you who know me in person, know I’m not much of a shopper, but I could seriously spend all day in there.  I was lucky enough to have an itison voucher, which saved me some money but still spent a fair bit (and could have spent way, way more!).

Would you like to see what I got?  If not, please look away now, because I’m going to show you anyway.

First I got this gorgeous (and very expensive) wool crepe.

The photo doesn’t really do it justice.  The feel of it is amazing and I can’t wait to make my 1950s stole from Decades of Style using it.

I also got this fabulous tulle with large velvet spots and some nude lining:

This is going to end up as a party skirt (my favourite item of clothing).

What do you think of this atlas oilcloth?

I think it will make a great weekend bag.  I’ll be using the weekend bag pattern from The Bag Making Bible by Lisa Lam.

Finally, some fabric for cushions:

I’m hoping these will be perfect with our sofa – they certainly seem to go well together in the photo.

So, my wallet may be lighter, but I’m really looking forward to using these fabrics to make (hopefully) wonderful creations.  The reason I am so keen to learn dressmaking is to have really well cut clothes in beautiful fabrics, not to save money.  I really want to move away from quantity and end up with a few really good quality pieces.

What skill do you want to learn in 2012, and why?

Lisa xoxo

Time for tea

I thought I’d show you this gorgeous vintage china cake stand my lovely friend, Jo, gave me for Christmas.  She made it herself and it’s so fabulous it makes me want to bake loads of cakes and scones.  In fact, I may just have to get some jam and clotted cream at the weekend and have a cream tea, using some of my loose leaf teas from Eteaket (my favourite tea shop).

On the craft front, I’m just beginning to get my motivation back after feeling poorly.  We have a craft fair on Sunday and I don’t have as much stock as I’d like, but I’m sure between Lesley, Sigrid and I, we’ll have enough stuff.  Progress with my Belle Ruffle wristwarmers has been slow – it’s definitely showing that it has been a long time since I knitted on 5 needles (I think I was 7 or 8 the one and only time I did it, and even then it may only have been 4 needles).  I’m now on “take 3″:

It was also my first time knitting on a circular needle, which took a little getting used to.  I’m now at the stage where I’m ready to transfer to my 4 needles.

On the fashion front, last week joined Polyvore – OMG what a time sapper that is, but so much fun; I am so looking forward to making new boards, hopefully with some clothes I actually own (and maybe even ones I make, once I learn how to photograph them properly for this).  I must limit my time there though, as I am looking forward to making lots of things in the next wee while.  I’m off fabric shopping next weekend, so will make something from my Sew What! Skirts book.

I’m looking forward to hearing about everyone’s crafty makes and bakes.

Speak soon

Lisa xoxo

p.s. thought I’d better put a little disclaimer here, after finding out about affiliate links.  I don’t use these – any things or places I link to are places I use, love and want to share with you all

Pretty Baby

My niece may only be 16 months old, but already she’s developing her own sense of style. She loves jewellery and brooches, but unfortunately she’s still to small to wear them, so I decided to modify a plain denim pinafore my sister bought her.

I kept it pretty simple, as it’s just an everyday item, but added a big felt flower, with a button centre to the front of the skirt and smaller ones, still with button centres to the bib pocket and one of the back pockets.

Doing this (and spending far too much time on Pinterest whilst I’ve been recovering from bronchitis) as only reaffirmed by desire to start making clothes.  I’m looking forward to my no-pattern skirt book arriving and definitely going to set aside some time over the next few weeks to rope Lesley into helping me make a duct tape dress form.  After that a trip to get some beautiful dressmaking fabric will  be in order; I don’t see the point in using bog-standard fabric for making my own clothes, even at the beginning stages, as the whole reason I want to make clothes is to have things made in great fabrics.

What project are you working on these days?

A bit of a hiccup

Just to show not everything goes according to plan, here’s a felt brooch that didn’t quite work:

I had wanted the Sizzix Petal Power die for some time, as I’ve seen some really nice things done with it.  This is definitely not one of them.  I don’t think it’s far away from looking okay, I just need to put it together differently.  On a positive note, I do love the colour.

To make me get off my butt and start sewing, I treated to myself to Sew What! Skirts by Francesca DenHartog and Carole Ann Camp.  I love that these don’t need a pattern, just your measurements.

On the subject of sewing, I still haven’t finished the stole I was going to make about 6 months ago.  To be honest, although I really like the fabric, I don’t think I like it for the stole.  I originally wanted a very lightweight wool, but our local fabric shop didn’t have any because it was summer.  The stuff I ended up getting is quite slippery and, although it’s a lovely colour, it’s just not right (are you picking up a theme here?).  I’m thinking about taking a trip through to Mandor’s in Glasgow one Sunday in the next couple of weeks – better set my budget before I go though, as it is a fabulous shop (or was the last time I was in, which is a few years ago).

Onwards and upwards…

Lisa xoxo

Fair Game

I’ve still been busily working away, making stuff for our stall at the forthcoming craft fair.  I’m really looking forward to it, but a bit disappointed we can’t take any jewellery with us, as there were already 2 jewellery stalls booked before us.  I’ve also been working on my website when I’ve had a spare few minutes  – it’s very basic at the moment, but it’s beginning to come together now (ok, typing that put a certain Beatles song in my head!).

Here are the brooches I’ve been working on:

I want to make some appliquéd cushions, and maybe a couple of evening bags, for the fair, but it is less than 3 weeks away, so hopefully I’ll have time.

My shorter circular needles arrived today, so I should be able to get a bit more of my Belle Ruffle Gloves done, although I have to pull some back, as I stupidly transferred my work onto 4 needles too early, instead of showing some patience and waiting for the new circular.  Grrrr, will I ever learn.

I also made a little brooch for myself, to go with my new coat.  The coat is much brighter red in real life, with black and blue print, so the brooch actually goes really well:

Thanks for looking.

Lisa xox

Knit one, crochet one

One of my aims in 2012 was to update more regularly, and I still fully intend to do so, even if I was off to a bad start, only posting once last week.  I have been busy behind the scenes though; I’ve been working on my own website and hope to have it fully up and running in the next few weeks.  I’ve also been trying to declutter the house, mainly because I’m sick of the sight of all the stuff lying around that we neither need nor want. Another thing I want to do this year is more batch cooking/freezing, which will allow me to spend less time in the kitchen and more time making things. I’ve also started a couple of knitting/crocheting projects and been busily making owls..as well as last week being my first full week back at the day job after the Christmas break.

I saw these Bell Ruffle Gloves on Pinterest recently and fell in love with them.  Imagine my delight when I found out there were available as a free pattern on Ravelry.

I’m going to make them in a dark charcoal colour, with dark red piping and buttons.  So far I’ve cast on, which is an effort in itself, as I’m left handed but have worked out a way to cast on that means I don’t need to read the pattern backwards.  I would have had some done over the weekend, but realised the yarn I thought was double knitting was actually 4-ply, so had to nip to the wool shop in my lunch break today.  This will be my first attempt at using a circular needle, and I’ve also not used 5 double-pointed ones to knit gloves since I was a primary school.  Hopefully if I could do it when I was 7 or 8 years old and can do it now.  Here’s the first of the work in progress photos:

I’ve also been refreshing my memory re crochet.  I learned to do this last year but, to be honest, haven’t done much since.  I made these little star flower things, which I’m going to stitch together to make into a dressy scarf:

What are you making right now?

Lisa xoxo

Twit-twoo

Happy New Year, everyone.  Hope you all had a good one – mine was very quiet and low key but still nice.  I’m now all ready to take 2012 by the horns.

I’ve not been hugely productive so far though, with only one crafty make in 2012, although I have had orders for another 4 of these in different colours, which I’ll get done this week.

What do you think of this cute little fella?

We’re doing another craft fair next month (a retro one this time), so will definitely be taking some of these along.  I am really looking forward to it; there are quite a few things I noticed at my first fair that I should have done, but it was still a great success.  In fact I’m putting it down to beginners luck, as don’t think the future ones will be just as successful.

I’ve also been doing a bit of crocheting, which I’m pretty new to.  I originally was going to make a shrug, but it started out with a chain of 257 stitches, so I realised pretty quickly that there would be no way I’d still have 257 stitches once I did my foundation row.  I’m not yet comfortable enough with crochet to be able to count my stitches with ease and find the foundation row really difficult; I never quite know if I’m going into one chain loop or half of one loop and half of another.  Recognising my lack of experience, I’ve decided to do a scarf made of star-like flower shapes instead – is it a bit of an easy option? Why, yes it is, but easy isn’t always bad

We hosted the first wine club of 2012 on Saturday night.  It was a great success, not least because my bottle won best bottle!  For food I did home-made pizza (with the help of Eve from Cupcakes & All That), penne & Nigella’s meatballs (although I cheated and bought in the pasta), cheese & crackers and whisky mac cupcakes, from the Love Bakery book, which are exceeding scrumptious.  I have to say the Love Bakery book is my favourite cupcake book ever; I’ve made quite a few of them and they’ve all turned out fantastic.

Well, better dash and start 2012 as I mean to go on, by spending more time making and less procrastinating

Toodles

Lisa xoxo